Viewing Judge Nathaniel A. Gearhart (1843-1906).

During the Battle of Gettysburg, nineteen year old Nathaniel Gearhart sustained a serious leg wound. He was discharged and returned home in New York to recover. He became a lawyer, married and began raising a family. In April 1887, they moved to Duluth, Minnesota. He was deputy register of deeds in 1887-1888. He was admitted to the Minnesota bar and began practicing law in Duluth; in 1891, he formed a partnership with his son Harry, newly graduated from the University of Minnesota Law Department.

This was a period when elections for even minor judicial posts were highly politicized. In 1898, running with the Republican party's endorsement, he was elected Special Municipal Court Judge. He was easily re-elected over Democratic opponents in 1901 and 1904. But his health, never robust, deteriorated, and he was forced to resign the judgeship in November 1904. He died on January 11, 1906, at age sixty-two.